Jerusalem’s Mayor Tackles Knife Attacker In The Street

Israel’s mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, and his security guard wrestled a knife-wielding Palestinian attacker to the ground near city hall on Sunday after an ultra-Orthodox Jew was stabbed with a knife at a busy intersection.

Security camera footage captured the moment when Barkat and his bodyguard walks towards the attacker and lunge at him, pinning him down on a pedestrian crossing before others took charge and detained the man.

Barkat told The Jerusalem Post 2 hours later, “[W]hen I was on my way to the office for a meeting, while we were at the junction right next to City Hall, my driver and my team noticed something happening in the junction. So, I got out of the car with my bodyguard, and we approached the scene and noticed a terrorist with a knife in his hand.”

“Without thinking, my bodyguard took out his weapon, and when he aimed at the terrorist, the terrorist dropped his knife and we immediately tackled him to the ground to make sure that he could not continue with the terror attack.”

Before Barkat came in, the camera vaguely shows the Palestinian waving his arm in a stabbing motion and injuring one person and attempting to stab others as they waited to cross the road. When people realized what had happened, the pedestrians ran away.

Once the mayor and his bodyguard subdued the “terrorist,” they immediately rushed to attend to the Jew who was stabbed. The stab victim was rushed to hospital, but he was not seriously hurt. The knife-wielding suspect turned out to be a 19-year-old (or 18, some reports say) Palestinian who was in Israel without a permit.